[ 2 ] Because the angels have writing like this, the names of people and
places are replaced in their Word by special markings. From them the
wise understand the spiritual or heavenly thing that each name means.
For example, “Moses” means the Word of God that was written through
Moses, and in a broader sense the historical Word. “Elijah” means the
prophetic Word. “Abraham,” “Isaac,” and “Jacob” mean the Lord’s divine
heavenly quality, his divine spiritual quality, and his divine earthly qual-
ity. “Aaron” means a priestly quality and “David” a royal one, both of
which belong to the Lord. The names of the sons of Jacob or the twelve
tribes of Israel mean different aspects of heaven and the church; the
names of the Lord’s twelve disciples have similar meanings. “Zion” and
“Jerusalem” mean the church’s body of teaching from the Word. “The
land of Canaan” means the church itself. Places and cities on this and on
that side of the Jordan mean different aspects of the church and its body
of teaching.
It is the same with numbers. In the versions of the Word in heaven
these too are absent. In their places are the things the numbers corre-
spond to.
From all this it is clear that the Word in heaven is similar in its literal
meaning to our Word, and it corresponds to it as well. Their Word and
our Word are therefore one.
[ 3 ] It is amazing that the Word in the heavens has been written in
such a way that the simple understand it simply and the wise understand
it wisely. As I say, there are many curves and diacritical marks over the
letters that heighten the meaning. Simple people pay no attention to
them and do not know what they mean. Wise people pay more and more
attention to them depending on how wise they are, right up to the high-
est level of wisdom.
In its sanctuary every larger community keeps a copy of the Word
written out by angels who were inspired by the Lord, so that the Word else-
where will not change in the least detail.
The Word that is in our world is like the Word in heaven in that the
simple understand it simply and the wise wisely. The mechanism for this
is different here, however.
On the point that the angels receive all their wisdom from the Word, 242
they themselves assert this. They have as much light as they have under-
standing of the Word. Heaven’s light is divine wisdom; before angels’
eyes this divine wisdom takes the form of light.
§242 sacred scripture 311